


Johnny Goes to College (Working Title)

by Neurogenesis



Category: Johnny the Homicidal Maniac
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Drug Use, Friendship, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Underage Drinking, Will probably add more characters and relationships later
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-25
Updated: 2017-04-25
Packaged: 2018-10-20 18:43:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,757
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10668573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Neurogenesis/pseuds/Neurogenesis
Summary: I don't know how far I'll go with this fic. I'm pretty good at starting things but terrible at finishing them. At the very least, I will have appeased a few nagging plot bunnies.





	Johnny Goes to College (Working Title)

Johnny had had a sheltered upbringing. The longest he'd ever stayed away from home had been a week, when he went to summer camp at the age of 12. He remembered growing homesick on the very first day. Since then, he had never ventured farther than an hour's drive from home.

His mother had broken down crying over the departure of her "baby boy." His father had shed no tears but Johnny could tell that he was worried for his son's well-being. It wasn't so much the distance as it was recent circumstances that gave his parents cause for concern. Johnny had been struggling with mental health troubles over the past few years- a nasty mix of insomnia, anxiety, and depression that would've made his life unbearable if it weren't for the pills. While he didn't love the idea of having to rely on medicine to keep him functional, he had become resigned to accept his fate- after all, he didn't have much in the way of options.

Despite these setbacks, Johnny was excited to finally go to college. He was thinking about majoring in art, as that was his main hobby and strongest suit. Art made him feel alive, made him feel tethered to a reality that, sometimes, he wasn't quite sure belonged to him. When he was sketching or painting, all his troubles receded into the back of his mind, where they held little power over him.

The pamphlets Johnny had received in the mail didn't lie- the university really did possess an almost storybook quality. It was a quaint little campus, with classes held in Edwardian style buildings. There was no shortage of trees and green grass, a stark contrast to his own neck of the woods. He felt like he was in Emerald City rather than several hours away from home.

Johnny held up the piece of paper where he had scribbled his dorm name- Room 2A, Bradshaw building. He drove to the dormitory parking lot, got out of his car, and made his way up to his room with his luggage and backpack in tow. Though his dormitory wasn't in the same architectural time-frame as the other buildings, it was still charming enough to seem welcoming. When he entered the building, he was greeted by a cacophony of students hollering above stereos blasting. Not even the first day of classes and already everyone was acting as if it were the last.

Johnny ascended the stairs and then unlocked the door to his dorm, revealing a sight he could've done without seeing- there was a girl straddling a boy on the loveseat against the wall. They were both fully clothed and making out passionately, the boy holding the girl's buttocks in a vice grip.

"Oh, shit!" Johnny blurted out. "I-I'm…"

The pair stopped what they were doing. The girl scrambled off of the boy and almost fell to the floor. The boy looked unfazed.

"Hi! Welcome to college," he said, his tone cheeky. The girl's face turned beet red. She adjusted her glasses nervously.

"Should I be going?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

"What? No. We're all adults here." The boy looked at Johnny. "I'm Jimmy." He gestured to the girl. "And this is my girlfriend, Tess."

"Hi," she said shyly.

"Uh, hi. I'm Johnny." He leaned against the wall awkwardly. "My friends call me Nny. I mean, what few friends I have." _Real smooth, weirdo.  
_

"'Nny', huh? Do you think that'd work for me? I mean, Ji- _mmy_. 'Mmy'. I like it. Whaddya think, Tess?"

The girl shrugged. "It's your life- do what you want."

"So, where are you from?" asked Jimmy.

"LA," replied Johnny.

"Really? Damn. Long way away from here. We're both from Squalorville, just outside of here. What's your major?"

"I think I'm gonna study art. I really like painting. What about you two?"

"I'm pre-med," said Jimmy.

"Really?" Johnny hadn't meant to say that out loud. "I mean… that's a good major." The boy didn't look a thing like how he envisioned a typical pre-med student. His hair was heavily gelled and shaved in the back, much like Johnny's. His ears had small gauges in them along with a smattering of other normal-sized piercings. He wore black eye makeup and his clothes closely resembled Johnny's outfit- a mishmash of stripes and lots of solid black. If Johnny hadn't known any better, he would've thought that this Jimmy kid had copied his style.

"Yeah, I'm pretty excited about it." Jimmy picked at the already chipped black polish on his fingernails. "Ever since I was little, I've just been fascinated with the human body. Not like in a creepy way, like a pervert or anything. Just the bones and the blood and the muscle and the viscera. All that stuff…" He grinned, unintentionally looking fiendish. "Okay, I guess that is kinda creepy, isn't it?"

"Nah, not really. I know what you mean." Johnny laughed a little. "What about you, Tess? What are you gonna study?"

"Mmm, I dunno yet." Tess smiled slightly. "I mean, I'm interested in a lot of stuff. It's just kinda hard to pin down, y'know? I guess I've got time to think about it."

"No, I get it," said Johnny. "I've got a lot of interests too." There was a long, almost palpably awkward pause in the conversation. Tess messed with her glasses some more. Jimmy rolled up his sleeves and coughed.

Johnny finally spoke. "So, what all is there to do in this town?"

"Uhh, not much else besides partying," said Jimmy. "There are a few good mom and pop restaurants, I hear. Oh, and a bowling alley."

"And a skating rink," said Tess.

"And a dinky little mall," added Jimmy. "But I've been told that it's a good idea to go there with a big group- on account of all the crackheads that hang out there."

"Yeah," said Tess. "Other than that- not too much."

"Okay." Johnny nodded in contemplation. "That's not too bad." Another pregnant silence. "Well, I'm gonna go, uh, check out my room and put away my stuff. Maybe take a nap."

"Wait- so my friends are throwing a party tonight," said Jimmy. "You're welcome to come along. You might make some friends. Meet some interesting people."

"Yeah, _really_ 'interesting'," groaned Tess. "They're theatre majors." She rolled her eyes.

"Good to know," said Johnny with a small laugh. "I could really use it. Going to an actual party for the first time in a while, I mean. Might do me some good."

"Yeah. _Yeah_." Jimmy smiled. "I'm sure it will."

~~~

The party was being held in a dorm a few buildings down from Johnny's. Although all the dormitories looked the same from the outside, this one, he noticed, was somehow less inviting than his own, on the inside. It took him a minute to realize that the difference wasn't so much the decor as it was the atmosphere- he didn't see a single smiling person, and every nose seemed to turn up in disgust when he passed by.

"What's with the students here?" he asked his new friends. "I've never seen such miserable people in my life."

"Like I said- most of them are theatre majors," Tess reminded him.

"Yeah, but they're fun once they're nice and drunk," said Jimmy. "Trust me on this."

Johnny shrugged. After ascending what seemed like an endless staircase, they made it to their destination. Jimmy knocked on the door. It opened slowly and they were greeted by an especially lugubrious female face.

"Hi, Anne," said Jimmy brightly. "Started without us, have ya?"

"Hmm. Yes. But you've always been known to be fashionably late." She opened the door wide. "Come in."

They entered the room and Anne closed the door behind him. A large group of black-clad bodies and made-up faces seemed to converge into a single entity. Johnny counted three heads wearing berets. Anne gestured grandly to the guests, waving around a small cloud of cigarette smoke in the process.

"It's just a small get-together," she said. "But we have plenty of wines and spirits- the lubricant of social situations." She heaved a sigh, as if delivering some unfortunate news.

"Awesome. I brought some beer." Jimmy held up two six-packs of some cheap brand that he had purchased with his fake ID. Anne made a "hmph" sound in the back of her throat.

"So you did. I'm sure _some_ one will drink it." And without another word, she walked away.

The three friends made their way to the refreshment table. Jimmy set the beers down next to the boxed wines.

"Tess _hates_ these people," he said quietly, smirking. "Especially Anne."

"I don't hate her," Tess corrected him. "I just wish she'd see a doctor about getting that stick taken out of her ass."

Johnny couldn't help but smile at that. He didn't understand how Jimmy could stand these people, drunk or sober. He figured he would just have to trust him. He scanned the room again and this time caught something very unusual from the corner of his eye- color. It was in the form of two purple pigtails, swaying from side to side as their owner chatted with another guest. She was very pretty and seemed to be happy about whatever she was talking about- and happy conversation seemed to be lacking in this room.

"Do you know that girl over there?" Johnny asked his friends, pointing in her direction.

They both looked over at her. "Mm, no. Don't think so," said Jimmy.

"I love her hair," said Tess. "See, Jimmy? That's exactly the shade I want to dye mine. I can't now, though- I'd be copying her."

"Who cares whether you'd be 'copying' her or not?" said Jimmy. "It's not like she owns that color or anything. Either way, you'd still be beautiful."

Tess smiled at that. "Thanks." She planted a soft kiss on his cheek. "You're beautiful too."

Jimmy linked arms with Johnny. "But what about Nny here?" he said with a goofy grin. "Isn't he just the pinnacle of man-pretty?"

"Oh, fuck yeah," said Tess, grinning too. "An absolute lady-killer. Why don't you go talk to Pigtails? Who knows? Maybe you'll get laid."

Johnny laughed. "I dunno about that. I mean, she's cute, but I doubt she'd go for a guy like me."

"The hell are you talking about?" asked Jimmy. He let go of Johnny's arm and grabbed one of his beers. "Of course she'd go for a guy like you." He opened the beer and took a swig. "All the artsy chicks gravitate towards the artsy guys and vice versa. Notice that we're not at a party with any jocks or science nerds- except myself."

"Well..." Johnny rubbed his arm idly. "I guessssssss."

"C'mon, Nny," said Tess. "What do you have to lose?"

"Aw, hell." He shrugged his shoulders. "Okay, I'll do it."

"That's the spirit!" said Jimmy. He gave him a playful push in the girl's direction. "Go get 'em, tiger."

Johnny swallowed a lump in his throat. Was he really going to walk right up to her and start talking? He'd never done that kind of thing back home. He'd never even had a girlfriend. He preferred to admire his crushes from afar, rather than risk the humiliation of rejection. The stakes were so high now- if she rejected his advances, he'd be at the mercy of these judgmental snobs.

He tried his best to put on a brave and confident demeanor as he walked in her direction. As soon as he was about five feet away from her, he was blocked by a different girl- one with two badly dyed fuchsia buns on either side of her head.

"Hey, I've never seen you before," she said. "You didn't go to Squalorville High, did you?"

"No, I'm from a different part of the state," said Johnny. "Um, not to be rude, but..."

He peered over the top of Fuchsia Buns' head and noticed that the girl was nowhere to be found. She couldn't have left that fast, could she? Maybe she was in the bathroom.

"My name's Oblivia," said the girl, extending her hand. She looked as if she were expecting him to kiss it, but Johnny just shook it gingerly. She looked somewhat offended at the gesture.

"'Oblivia'? That's, uh... that's an interesting name."

"It's not her real name," snickered a long-haired boy nearby, overhearing their conversation. "Her real name is Gertrude."

"Who asked _you_ , Eric?" she said, shooting him a dirty look. She looked back at Johnny and smiled. "And what might your name be, o handsome stranger?"

Were it not for the politeness his parents had ingrained in him from childhood, he would've walked away at that point. "Err, it's Johnny. But you can call me 'Nny' for short."

"Ah, 'Nny'. What a lovely monosyllabic moniker. You look so out of place, like you've never been to a party in your life. Tell me." A wide grin. "Have you ever gotten high?"

Johnny wasn't sure if he liked where this was going. "Um, no. I haven't."

"Then you haven't really lived. Come! Will you let me guide you through this dark realm of pleasures?"

"I really don't know if I-"

"Excellent!" Oblivia grabbed a hold of Johnny's hand. She was much stronger than she appeared. "Care to join us, vampire boy?" she asked Eric.

"Certainly," he said. Oblivia dragged the unwilling Johnny back to one of the bedrooms. When all three of them were inside, Oblivia slammed the door shut and locked it.

"I know she keeps it around here somewhere," murmured Oblivia. She began rummaging through drawers at random.

"You mean this isn't your room?" asked Johnny, worried.

"Pssh- no!" Oblivia laughed. "I have much better taste in decoration than Cleo." She pointed at the various posters on the wall. "These bands suck." She started patting down the mattress then looked inside the pillow cases.

"This... this doesn't feel right," said Johnny, leaning against the wall. "I mean, shouldn't you be using your own drugs if you're going to use them at all?"

"What would be the fun in that?" Oblivia grinned. "And anyway- oh!" She pulled out a glass bowl and a Ziploc bag of marijuana from underneath the mattress. "Found it!"

"Eureka!" said Eric. "Be a dear and let me have the first hit?"

"Pffff. No way, asshole," said Oblivia. She unzipped the bag and poured some of its content into the bowl. "Virgins go first."

Johnny panicked slightly, thinking Oblivia could tell that he was a virgin in the sexual sense, then realized that she meant a drug-virgin.

"I'm not sure I want to," he said.

"What- you're not afraid of a little weed, are you?" Oblivia frowned. "How _very_ uncool."

"I'm not afraid, I just..." If someone as uncool as this Oblivia chick thought he was uncool, then he hated to think of how an actual cool person viewed him. "Oh, hell, all right."

"There's a good boy!" Oblivia searched in her purse and produced a lighter. She struck it a couple of times before she was successful and lit up the bowl. "Here you go, Nny."

"Um, all right." Johnny took a hold of the pipe and put the mouthpiece to his lips. As soon as he inhaled, the smoke went down the wrong way and he started to cough violently.

"A little too enthusiastic there!" laughed Oblivia. She patted him on the back until his coughing stopped. "How do you feel?"

"I feel..." Maybe a little more relaxed, but not by much. "I don't know if I feel anything yet."

"Have another go, then," said Eric.

Johnny obeyed, taking another hit and then exhaling. This time he didn't end up coughing his lungs out and actually started to feel different. Very mellow and a little bit silly. He giggled quietly.

Oblivia smiled. "Y'see? It comes from Mother Nature, so it can't be bad! You just puff to your heart's content. Eric and I can wait."

Johnny took his time, luxuriously inhaling and exhaling the drug. He was beginning to feel very relaxed when all of a sudden, the doorknob jiggled. Then there was pounding against the door.

"Oh, _shit_ ," said Oblivia. "It's probably Cleo."

"I know what you're doing in there, you fucking bitch!" came a female voice from the other side of the door. "I paid good money for that weed!"

He took the bowl away from Johnny, extinguished the small fire, and stuffed it back under the mattress. "We're not smoking anything, dearie!" yelled Eric.

"I can smell it, dumbass! That's choice stuff, and you're wasting it! Now unlock the fucking door!"

"Okay, okay!" Oblivia unlocked the door. She gestured around the room. "See? No paraphernalia to be found."

Cleo grabbed a hold of Oblivia's arm and yanked her forcibly out of the room. She did the same with Eric and Johnny.

"Go through my shit again, Gertie, and I'll fucking stab you in the eye with my mascara brush. I don't know why Anne keeps inviting you to her parties- probably because she gets a good laugh at how pathetic you both are!" And with that, she walked back into her room and slammed the door shut.

"Well, that didn't go as planned," sighed Eric.

"No, it didn't," said Oblivia. "Nny, would you like to come back to my place for some more recreational substances?"

"I..." He looked around the room and caught sight of the purple pigtails again. He pushed his way through the crowd, not even bothering to say goodbye to his 'friends'.

He was getting closer and closer to her, when he looked down and noticed something on the floor. Something dark and sticky and flowing. He searched for the source and found that it was running down the wall nearest the kitchen. Nny touched it hesitantly and examined his hand- blood.

"Hey, Nny, where the hell have you been?" came Jimmy's voice from behind him.

Johnny spun around. His friend looked concerned, but the expression didn't stay there for long. Seconds later, the flesh on Jimmy's face began to dissolve. His eyes melted and oozed slowly out of their sockets. All that remained was glistening red muscle and a cluster of jagged fangs, each as long as Johnny's index finger.

"What's wrong?" Jimmy's voice was much deeper now, somehow sounding demonic and mechanical at the same time.

"Get... GET AWAY FROM ME!" Johnny backed himself up against the wall. He could feel the blood sticking to his clothes, pasting him in place. People turned around and stared at him. Their faces, too, underwent the same metamorphosis as Jimmy's. Johnny closed his eyes shut, but he could still hear evil voices. The bass of the party music grew distorted and louder and made his ears feel like they were going to explode.

 _Alice in her party-dressed-to-kill_  
_She thanks you, turns away_  
_Needs you like she needs her pills_  
_To tell her that the world's okay_

"Nny? Nny, what's wrong?!" came a voice, slightly higher than demon-Jimmy's.

"JESUS CHRIST!" yelled Johnny.

"C'mon, Nny," said Jimmy. "I'm gonna take you back to our dorm, okay?" He tried to grab a hold of Johnny's arm, but his friend pulled free.

"Don't fucking touch me!" sobbed Johnny, cradling his head in his hands.

"Johnny, we need to get you outta here," said demon-Tess. She tried to do the same as her boyfriend, but Johnny just opened his eyes and shrieked.

"What the fuck is going on?" someone asked from across the room.

"Some guy's probably tripping balls," another person answered.

Johnny couldn't handle it anymore. He darted past his friends, past the throng of bemused party-goers with their mutilated faces and ear-crushing voices. He opened the door and ran down the hallway, watching on in horror as the walls ran thick with blood. He didn't stop running until he was back in his dorm, and when he got there he collapsed on the floor and sobbed until he was certain his tears had all run dry.

An indeterminate amount of time passed before he heard two familiar voices.

"Nny?" said non-demon Tess, standing close over him. "Are you okay?!"

"What happened?" Jimmy asked him.

"I..." Johnny opened his eyes tentatively. The monsters were gone, and his friends were in their place. "I think... there was something in that weed."

"Yeah, dude, you kinda reek," said Jimmy.

"It was stupid, I know." Johnny wiped at his eyes and snotty nose with his shirt sleeve. "I didn't think it'd be like that..."

"Who'd you smoke with?" asked Tess.

"I was with some guy named Eric and that girl, Olivia, err... Oblivia. But they didn't smoke any."

"Was it theirs?" asked Jimmy.

"No, it belonged to someone named Cleo."

"That explains it," said Tess. She shook her head. "That bitch is into some weird shit."

"Maybe he just had a bad reaction to something that's pretty mild to most people," said Jimmy.

"Whatever it was, it made me see some really scary shit." Johnny wiped some more errant tears away. "Like the stuff of my nightmares, but way worse."

"Like what?" asked Jimmy.

"Like... bleeding walls and Eldritch-abomination-looking creatures," said Johnny.

"Eldra-what?" asked Jimmy.

"Eldritch abomination. Lovecraft stuff," said Tess. "You wouldn't get it."

"But are you feeling okay now?" asked Jimmy.

"I... think so." Johnny looked at the walls, stared into his friends' faces to make sure they were still human.

"You can't trust fucking theatre majors," said Tess. "If I were you, Nny, I'd stay away from them.

"Okay, so some of them are kinda fucked up, but they're not all like that," said Jimmy defensively.

"You're probably right," said Johnny with a sigh. He got up from his place on the floor. "Oh my god. You just met me and already you've witnessed me losing my fucking mind."

"Trust me- I've seen worse," said Jimmy with a grin. "One time I was at a party and this one guy got so high, he tried to have sex with a grand piano." He laughed. "As you can imagine, the parents of whoever threw that party were not thrilled when they found it the next morning."

Johnny laughed a lot louder than he intended to. Maybe it was because he wanted to put his hell-trip behind him and look to the future- which he hoped would be free of hell-trips.

"I was high, but hopefully I wasn't _that_ high," said Johnny. _I'm okay now_. His friends smiled at him. _I'm going to be okay._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The song being played at the party is "Alice" by The Sisters of Mercy.


End file.
